


Following a Ghost

by elil



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: During Canon, FILTHY I TELL U, Gen, Injury, Sibling Bonding, hallownest is FILTHY, hornet didnt stand a chance, hubris runs in the family, just a short thing bc its been lingering my in head, that but with hornet, u know how everything is going great and then one thing goes wrong and it just snowballs, ya the Infection is bad but what about regular ol infection
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-07
Updated: 2020-01-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:42:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22163503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elil/pseuds/elil
Summary: Hallownest is a dangerous place, capable of besting even the greatest of us. Fortunately, Hornet has Ghost.
Relationships: Hornet & The Knight (Hollow Knight), No Romantic Relationship(s)
Comments: 15
Kudos: 85





	Following a Ghost

Hornet was furious. 

She had followed Ghost into the Royal Waterways, because what, she had thought, could be drawing them into it? The only thing down here was sentiment, and that was the last thing they needed. Much less somewhere so dangerous, the Waterways filled with creatures she was quite certain had been mad long before the Infection.

It was not Ghost she was furious at, though. They, as easy as they were to track despite their speed with how destructive and nosy they were, were probably fine. It was herself. She had allowed herself to be worried, and worse, she had allowed herself to be careless, hasty.

A belfly- a _belfly_ \- had caught her unawares and knocked her off her perch, scorching her cloak and side. She scrambled to her feet, wincing. She threw her needle into the gloom, towards an awful wet noise. Which did little to stop the two halves of that flukemon, much less the one behind her. They clawed at her cloak and shell, teeth sinking into her limbs and she pulled her needle back, tossing it above her. It sank into stone and she pulled herself onto the ledge above. 

A glint of orange and a shriek, and she pulled her needle back as a second belfly slammed into her. This one at least did not knock her back into the flukemons, who did not seem able to reach her from here. Their horrible noises were covered by the ringing in her head.

Eventually it faded, along with the sounds of the flukemons. This is where she now found herself, a growing pain pulsing through her and her needle becoming heavier. 

“Fuck,” she croaked. This was stupid. This was _stupid_ —a momentary lapse in caution, not even a minute’s scuffle. If the belfly hadn’t—no, if she’d been _paying attention_ -

Which she needed to do now. She gripped her needle tighter despite her shaking arm and looked around. It was dim, the chronic gloom unbroken. Quiet, water dripping around her. She flinched when some fell onto her mask and rolled into her eye. Okay. She was not in immediate danger, and she was certain nothing down here stalked.

Her left side hurt the worst. She set her needle down and shakily tore strips from her cloak and bound her left leg and arm. A part of her knew this did not really help, that she needed to clean them, but it provided a small measure of comfort. She picked her needle back up.

Something skittered in the distance and she whipped her head towards it. “Ghost?” she called. Nothing appeared and she let out a shaky sigh.

She was closest to the Fungal Wastes. That was… probably her best bet. Actually, it was probably on par with the City of Tears. The City’s hot spring was closer than looping around through the Wastes to access Deepnest’s. She was certain should could handle the creatures of the Wastes even now, whereas she could not afford a misstep around the husks in the City. She would have to venture much further into the Waterways to reach the Ancient Basin. The City’s heavy rain did not appeal to her, but was probably safer with open wounds. She stood and was hit with vertigo. The Wastes, then, as she would at least be less likely to slip. But if she slipped in the Wastes it could very well be into acid. Which would have the same end result as slipping into the water in the City, minus heavily-armed sentries. 

For half a second she considered the Mantis Village—they just had to let her through the door, and the Deepnest hot spring would be right there. It would be the shortest, safest route, and then once she had the strength she could visit the Midwife, who’d no doubt scold her but she always had a stock of herbs and medicines and could ensure nothing nasty set in-

She shook her head. She could manage the longer trip. The mantid did not need to know, not when she’d spent so long building a reputation as untouchable. She’d be fine.

Hornet turned and limped her way towards the Wastes. She managed to duck away from another belfly, the first major hurdle took barely an hour to appear: the small lake between the two areas. Something she’d never viewed as an issue, but her needle had never weighed so much before either.

Go through the City, she told herself. 

She could barely hold her needle. She would be able to climb the walls of the Wastes easier than trying to thread her way through the City. What if she got stuck in the middle of either? This was not helping. She threw her needle as far as she could.

It sank and held and she managed to cross in one go, awkwardly landing and rolling to a stop. Her needle thudded on the ground nearby and she let out a tired wheeze.

It would probably not be safe to sleep in the Wastes. It was not really safe here, but at the border it was only her and slightly drier than the Waterways. And she was so tired. It would just, she told herself, be for a little. She shut her eyes and sleep washed over her.

* * *

Hornet woke up and felt decidedly worse. Pain pulsed through her and she coughed, shakily getting to her knees and hacking up phlegm. “Great,” she croaked, getting to her feet and leaning on her needle for support.

She stumbled into the Wastes. She winced as the light revealed the breaks in her shell, green sluggishly bleeding through the makeshift bandages. Other parts were scorched, exposing the meat beneath while also welding to it and itself. 

She stared up at the Wastes, suddenly aware of how high out was, how sheer the walls were and how heavy her needle was. Too bad, she snapped at herself. 

She threw her needle and it fell limply a few feet away. Okay. She stowed it on her back and sank her claws into the wall, taking a steadying breath before starting to climb.

It was slow, and her weight almost unbearable. Every ledge she found she had to stop and rest, ignoring the funglings that would occasionally bop into her. This meant what should have taken an hour, tops, had crept well into six. 

She pointedly climbed past the Mantis Village—not that they would help her anyway and not that she wanted their help—clinging to the stalks of towering mushroom. She- she had to be at least halfway to Queen’s Station. Right? That _did_ connect to Deepnest? She was fairly sure it did. It did. Did it? The mushroom bent a bit and she managed to reach a further ledge, hauling herself up.

She found herself inches from a sporg. She had forgotten about sporgs. How could she forget. About sporgs. “Don’t you fucking dare,” she told it.

It spat a spore that instantly exploded. Which meant it hit itself, but that offered her little comfort as she was sent flying off the ledge. She hit the top of the mushroom and was sent sailing through the air, slamming into a distant wall. She was stuck there for one, two seconds before falling into the stem of another mushroom, scrabbling desperately at it. She slipped and slammed into the ledge below.

She had not, in the end, gone very far. She could see the ledge she’d been blasted from, smoke rising from what she hoped was the remains of the sporg. So that was good. She was fine.

What the fuck was she saying? She was not fine. She was, in fact, a fucking idiot, cursed with hubris, and while she knew her mother had it in spades she chose to squarely blame her father. She sank a claw into the wall and managed to get to her feet, only to have her leg give out the moment she tried to take a step. Stupid fucking Wyrm. Stupid sporg. Stupid belfly. Stupid flukemons. Stupid fungling that floated by without a care. 

She was going to die because she was _stupid_. Her eyes stung and it took her a minute to realize it was from tears, and she curled up with a hiccuped sob. The Light seared in her mind, calling, coaxing, and she resisted and wondered if it was even worth it. If she’d just die from infection and then be reanimated by Infection. Some protector she’d turned out to be.

She was so tired.

Everything hurt.

She shut her eyes.


End file.
